Railway tie pulling machine



Dec. 25, 1934. I Q DRAKE 1,985,768

RAILWAQ TIE PULLING MACHINE Filedbec. 19, 1953 v '22 TI TI TI M P TI TI W J l 04 1s 15 17 i A? \@/o 6, 52 OW 42 45 "3 i I Q I'\ U74- 31 M 51 Imnentor #4900007 5 UPA/(E Patented Dec. 25, 19 34 7 Emmi TIE PULLING MACHINE Harcourt 0. ma, Hempstead, N. Y., assignor to sperry Products, j porationof New York a Brooklyn, N. Y., a cor- Application December 19, 1933, Serial No. 703,085

12 Claims. (01. 254-43) This invention relates to improvements in railroad'tie pullers for use in the construction and repair of railway road-beds. -More particularly my invention relates-to improvements in the means whereby railway ties may be removed or replaced by pulling the same lengthwise from beneath the rails without the necessity of removing the earth and ballast between the ties.

The method heretofore employed consisted of devices adapted to be fastened to a portion of the rail near the tie which it ,was desired to remove and applying a pulling force to theme through the medium of a cable encircling the'tie. In this construction a force was applied to the rail equal and opposite to the force applied to the tie, and i in many cases the strain on the rail was so great that said rail was bent out of alignment, thereby destroying the parallelism of the track.

It is the principal object ofmy invention to remedy the above difliculty by providing means for removing a railway tie without damaging thetrack.- is

Further objects and advantages will became apparent in the following detailed description of the invention.

In the accompanying drawing,

Fig. 1 is a plan view of a portion of a roadbed showing my invention applied thereto.

Fig. 2 is a side elevation of Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is a section taken on 3-3 of Fig. 1..

Fig. 4 is a plan view of a modified form of force-applying mechanism.

Referring to Fig. 1, I have shown my tie removal mechanism supported on a base 10 adapted to rest on the'ballast alongside the track. For withdrawing a tie such as 15 there may be provided'a cable engaging around one end thereof. Said cable may be formed of two strands 20, 21 joined together at 22 to facilitate attachment to the end of the tie. The free ends of the strands 20 and 21 may then be pulled upon by a suitable force-applying mechanism such as a motor M, if electric service is available, or a hand-lever 50 and pawl and ratchet 51, 52, or any other suitable force-applying means. The said force-applying means rotates a shaft 29 having suitable gearing connection such as worm 30 and worm gear 31 at each end thereof to rotate drums 28 mounted on the same shaft 24 with worm gear 31 around which the cable is adapted to be wound after passing through suitable guide rollers 27.

Thus it can be seen that when motor M is set in action, drums 28 will wind up cables 20 and 21 and the'tie 15 which it is desired to remove is forced out of its position in the direction indi able fastening means,

cated by arrow A. An opening in base 10 is providedfor tie 15 to pass through freely.

In order to prevent the possibility of base 10 tilting due to the pulling strain exerted on the tie 15, support arms '35 are provided at each end of base 10. Said arms 35 are pivotally mounted at one end on base 10 at 36 and at the other end are adapted to be fastened to the ties by any suit such as spike 38, or said other end of arm 35 may be formed with a sharp point adapted to engage in the tie.

It will be readily appreciated that the force exerted upon the tie 15 which is to be removed is in the direction of arrow A and that an equal and opposite force is exerted by; the tie-pulling machine in the direction of arrow B.

In all machines heretofore employed the engagement took place between the machine and the adjacent rail R so that the entire force indicated'by the arrow B was applied substantially at one point in the length of rail R; This, as explained in the introduction; frequently-caused a bending of the rail and destroyed the parallelism of the track. By this invention it will be seen that I cause the tie-pulling machine to engage, not the rail R, but a plurality of ties, 11, 12, 13, 14, on both sides and adjacent to the tie 15 which is being removed.

The pressure is applied by said machine to said adjacent ties by means of a plurality of abutments 16, 1'7, 18, 19 adapted to engage the ends of said adjacent ties. While the illustration shows two such abutments for engaging two ties on each side of the tie which is being removed, more of said abutments engaging more ties or a single abutment on each side of the tie being removed may be employed. To permit engagement of the abutments 16, 1'7, 18 and 19 with the ends of the ties regardless of inequalities in the positions of the ends of the ties, saidabutments may carry plates 40 and 41 pivoted at 42 and 43 on the base plate 10 of said machine.

It will now be seen that by the above construction I not only avoid applying the pulling pressure of the tie-pulling machine to rail R but I am enabled to distribute said pressure to a plurality of ties so that each one bears only a small fraction of the total pressure and therefore will not cause displacement of the track or bending of the rail.

In accordance with the provisions of the patent statutes, I have herein described the principle and operation of my invention, together with the apparatus which I now consider to represent the best embodiment thereof, but I desire to have it understood that the apparatus shown is only illustrative and that the invention can be carried out by other means. Also, while it is designed to use the various features and elements in the combination and relations described, some of these may be altered and others omitted without interfering with the more general results outlined, and the invention extends to such use.

Having described my invention, what I claim and desire to secureby Letters Patent is:

1. The method of removing railroad "ties in track which consists in applying-a pulling force to the tie to be removed and balancing said force by forces applied to ties adjacent to said tie to be removed.

2. The method of removing railroadties track which consists in applying a pulling force to the tie to be removed and balancing said force by forces applied to ties on each side of said tie to be removed. U

3. A device for removing railroad ties in track comprising means for engaging the tie to be removed, means for applying a force to said first means, and meansior engaging a plurality of other ties.

4. A device for removing railroad ties in track comprising means for engaging the tie tobe removed, means for applying a force to said first means, and means for engaging theends-of a plurality of other ties. 7

5. A device for removing'railroad ties in track comprising means for engaging the tie to be removed, means for applying a force to said first means, and means whereby a force equal and opposite to said first force is applied to ties adjacent said tie to be removed.

6. A device for removing railroad ties in track comprising means for engaging the tie tobe removed, means for applying aforce to said first means, and means whereby a force equal and 0pposite to said first force is applied to ties on each side of said tie to be removed.

'7. A device 'for removing railroad ties in track comprising means for applying a pulling force to the tie to be removed, said device having means for applying the reaction forces to a plurality of ties on each side of said'tie to be removed.

8. A device for removing railroad ties in track comprising means for applying a pulling force to the tie to be removed, said device having means for applying the reaction forces tothe ends of a plurality of ties adjacent said tie to be removed.

9. A device for removing railroad ties in track comprising a cable adapted to engage the tie to be removed, means for applying a pulling force tojsaid cable in a direction to remove said tie, a support for said force-applying means, and means for engaging a plurality of ties on each side of said tieto be removed.

10. A device for removing railroad ties in track comprising a cable adapted to engage the tie to be removed, means for applying a pulling force to said cable in a direction to remove said tie, a winding drum for :said cable and driving means for rotating said winding drum to exert a pulling force on said cable.

11. A device for removing railroad ties in track comprising a cable adapted "to engage the tie to be removed, means for applying a pulling force .to

said cable in a direction to remove said tie, a winding drum for said cable, driving means ior rotating said winding drum to'exert a pulling force on said cable, and a support for said driving means and said winding means, said support having means adapted to engage a'plurality of ties on each side of said tie to be removed.

12. A device for removing railroad ties in track comprising means for applying a pulling force to the tie to be removed, said device having means for applying the reaction forces to a plurality cf ties on each sideof said tie to be removed, and means adapted to engage the ties whereby said device is prevented :from tilting when said pulling force is applied to said tie to be removed.

HARCOURT C. DRAKE. 

